The primary aim of the Program Development Core is to support existing research, and stimulate new research, in the global demography of aging, particularly relating to the three themes emphasized in this Center proposal, namely the measurement of the global patterns of disease, mortality, and morbidity in aging populations, the determinants of population health and aging, and the demographic and economic consequences of global aging. We propose to achieve that through (1) providing support for small scale pilot projects; (2) supporting the career development of junior faculty who seek to build research programs relating to global aging; and (3) attracting international scholars to continue their training through funding a one-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Center. A key function of the Program Development Core will be to provide funding for pilot studies that will contribute to development of new research programs on the major themes of the Center. We propose to fund two one-year projects per year. A senior review committee will develop submission guidelines and criteria for evaluating the scientific merit and relevance of the proposed projects to the overall Center themes and will provide feedback to both successful and unsuccessful applicants in order to enhance the quality of research in global aging at Harvard. Salary support is requested for three junior faculty members to enable new original investigations relating to global aging. Finally, in order to promote the training of international scholars in global aging research and strengthen links in the Center's extramural network, we propose funding for one post-doctoral fellow in global aging per year. This interdisciplinary fellowship will leverage the infrastructure in place for existing fellowship programs at the University while attracting candidates from a broader range of disciplines and adding a unique focus on global aging.